"Amnesty's Allegations Are Serious" NHRC Issues Notice To Govt. On Amnesty's Decision To Close India Operations Because Of "Witch-hunt" By Govt.

National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India takes suo motu cognizance of the matter and directs issuance of the notice to the Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi, calling for their comments on the allegations levelled by the Amnesty International."The Amnesty International is a reputed non-governmental organization raising its voice globally whenever there is an incident of violation of human rights of the people. The allegations levelled by the organization are serious in nature and have been strongly answered by the government agency. Any kind of difference of opinion may be a subject of investigation and decision by the competent court. The Commission finds it necessary to go through the matter, analyse the facts and reach a conclusion in the interest of human rights friendly environment in the country"The Government of India has freezed all the bank accounts of Amnesty International India on the allegations of money laundering and suspected violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.Consequently, the human rights organization has been forced to suspend its operations and let go of its staff in India."The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts is not accidental. The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir. For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent," said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India", Amnesty said in a statement.The organization claims that its premises have been raided by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI respectively, twice in two years, based on "unsubstantiated" allegations."On 25 October 2018, Amnesty International India endured a 10-hour-long raid as a group of officers from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial investigation agency under the Ministry of Finance, entered its premises and locked the gates behind them. Most of the information and documents that were demanded during the search were already available in the public domain or filed with the relevant government authorities. The residence of a Director was also raided.xxxOn 22 October 2019, Amnesty International testified at the US Congressional hearing on the situation of human rights in South Asia with specific focus on Jammu and Kashmir since the unilateral abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India.On 15 November 2019, two weeks after the testimony and amid rumours of impending arrests of the organizations top officials, the offices of Amnesty International India and the residence of one of its directors were raided again by the CBI. The raids were conducted on the basis of a First Information Report filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs over unsubstantiated allegations of suspected violations of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act," the organization claims.The Government said that the statements made by Amnesty International are unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth. It had alleged that this move by the Government is only an extension of the various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power.Terming this statement 'unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth', the Government said that the Amnesty International had received permission under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) only once and that too twenty years ago The Government further states that, in order to circumvent the FCRA regulations, Amnesty UK remitted large amounts of money to four entities registered in India, by classifying it as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). "Owing to these illegal practices of Amnesty, the previous government had also rejected the repeated applications of Amnesty to receive funds from overseas. This had led Amnesty to suspend its India operations once during that period as well. This bipartisan and purely legal approach towards Amnesty, under different governments, makes it clear that the entire fault lies in the dubious processes adopted by Amnesty to secure funds for its operations.", it added.Read the NHRC Press Release hereNHRC issued notice to the Home Secretary, MHA, Govt. of India, New Delhi over Amnesty International winding up its operations in the country because of "witch-hunt" by the government. (30.09.2020)Dated: 30th September, 2020National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India takes suo motu cognizance of the matter and directs issuance of the notice to the Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi, calling for their comments on the allegations levelled by the Amnesty International as mentioned in the...

"Amnesty's Allegations Are Serious" NHRC Issues Notice To Govt. On Amnesty's Decision To Close India Operations Because Of "Witch-hunt" By Govt.

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